Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T18:46:27.417Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The two extinctions of the Carolina Parakeet Conuropsis carolinensis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2021

KEVIN R. BURGIO Open the ORCID record for KEVIN R. BURGIO [Opens in a new window] ,
COLIN J. CARLSON Open the ORCID record for COLIN J. CARLSON [Opens in a new window] ,
ALEXANDER L. BOND Open the ORCID record for ALEXANDER L. BOND [Opens in a new window] ,
MARGARET A. RUBEGA  and
MORGAN W. TINGLEY
KEVIN R. BURGIO*
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, 75 N. Eagleville Rd, Storrs, CT, 06269 USA.
COLIN J. CARLSON
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
ALEXANDER L. BOND
Affiliation:
Bird Group, Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Akeman Street, Tring, Hertfordshire, HP23 6AP, UK.
MARGARET A. RUBEGA
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, 75 N. Eagleville Rd, Storrs, CT, 06269 USA.
MORGAN W. TINGLEY
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
*
*Author for correspondence; email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Due to climate change and habitat conversion, estimates of the resulting levels of species extinction over the next century are alarming. Devising conservation solutions will require many different approaches, including examining the extinction processes of recently extinct species. Given that parrots are one of the most threatened groups of birds, information regarding parrot extinction is pressing. While most recent parrot extinctions have been island endemics, the Carolina Parakeet Conuropsis carolinensis had an 18th-century range covering nearly half of the present-day United States, yet mostly disappeared by the end of the 19th century. Despite a great deal of speculation, the major cause of its extinction remains unknown. Establishing the date when a species went extinct is one of the first steps in determining what caused their extinction. While there have been estimates of their extinction date, these analyses used a limited dataset and did not include observational data. We used a recently published, extensive dataset of Carolina Parakeet specimens and observations combined with a Bayesian extinction estimating model to determine the most likely extinction dates. By considering each of the two subspecies independently, we found that they went extinct ˜30 years apart: the western subspecies C. c. ludovicianus going extinct around 1914 and the eastern subspecies C. c. carolinensis either in the late 1930s or mid-1940s. Had we only considered all observations together, this pattern would have been obscured, possibly missing a major clue in solving the mystery of the parakeet’s extinction. Since the Carolina Parakeet was a wide-ranging species that went extinct during a period of rapid agricultural and industrial expansion, conditions that mirror those occurring in many parts of the world where parrot diversity is highest, any progress we make in unraveling the mystery of their disappearance may be vital to modern conservation efforts.

Keywords

ExtinctionCarolina ParakeetConuropsis carolinensisextinction date estimation
Type
Short Communication
Information
Bird Conservation International , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , September 2022 , pp. 498 - 505
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of BirdLife International

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altizer, S., Hochachka, W. M. and Dhondt, A. A. (2004) Seasonal dynamics of mycoplasmal conjunctivitis in eastern North American house finches. J. Anim. Ecol. 73: 309–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armsworth, P. R., Larson, E. R., Jackson, S. T., Sax, D. F., Simonin, P., Blossey, B., Green, N., Klein, M. L., Lester, L., Ricketts, T. H., Runge, M. C. and Shaw, M. R. (2015) Are conservation organizations configured for effective adaptation to global change? Front. Ecol. Environ. 13: 163–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Askins, R. (2000) Restoring North America’s birds: lessons from landscape ecology. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Audubon, J.J. (1831) Ornithological biography . Volume 1. Edinburgh, UK: Adam and Charles Black.Google Scholar
Blanco, G., Bravo, C., Pacifico, E. C., Chamorro, D., Speziale, K. L., Lambertucci, S. A., Hiraldo, F., Tella, J.L. (2016) Internal seed dispersal by parrots: an overview of a neglected mutualism. PeerJ. 22(4): e1688.Google Scholar
Boakes, E. H., Rout, T. M. and Collen, B. (2015) Inferring species extinction: the use of sighting records. Meth. Ecol. Evol. 6: 678–687.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, A.L., Carlson, C.J. and Burgio, K.R. (2019) Local extinction of insular avifauna on the most remote inhabited island in the world. J. Ornith. 160: 49–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brunswig, N. L., Winton, S. G. and Hamel, P. B. (1983) A dietary overlap of evening grosbeaks and Carolina parakeets. Wilson Bull. 95: 452.Google Scholar
Burgio, K. R., Carlson, C. J. and Tingley, M. W. (2017) Lazarus ecology: recovering the natural history of the extinct Carolina parakeet. Ecol. Evol. 7: 5467–5475.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burgio, K. R., Carlson, C. J. and Bond, A. L. (2018) Georeferenced sighting and specimen occurrence data of the extinct Carolina Parakeet 1564 - 1944. Biodiv. Data J. 6: e25280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, C. J, Burgio, K. R., Dougherty, E. R., Phillips, A. J., Bueno, V. M., Clements, C. F., Castaldo, G., Dallas, T., Cizauskas, C. A., Cumming, G., Doña, J., Harris, N. C., Jovani, R., Mironov, S., Muellerklein, O., Proctor, H. C. and Getz, W. M. (2017) Parasite biodiversity faces extinction and redistribution in a changing climate. Sci. Advances 3: e1602422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, C. J., Burgio, K. R., Dallas, T. A., and Bond, A. L. (2018a) Spatial extinction date estimation: a novel method for reconstructing spatiotemporal patterns of extinction and identifying potential zones of rediscovery. bioRxiv 276879.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, C. J., Bond, A. L. and Burgio, K. R. (2018b) Estimating the extinction date of the Thylacine accounting for unconfirmed sightings. Conserv. Biol. 32: 477–483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ceballos, G., Ehrlich, P. R., Barnosky, A. D., García, A., Pringle, R. M. and Palmer, T. M. (2015) Accelerated modern human– induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction. Sci. Advances 1: e1400253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elphick, C. S., Roberts, D. L. and Reed, J. M. (2010) Estimated dates of recent extinctions for North American and Hawaiian birds. Biol. Conserv. 143: 617–624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gedney, C. W. (1877) Foreign cage birds: containing full directions for successfully breeding, rearing, and managing the various beautiful aviary birds imported into this country . Vol. 1. London, UK: “The Bazaar" Office.Google Scholar
Gelabert, P., Sandoval-Velasco, M., Serres, A., de Manuel, M., Renom, P., Margaryan, A. and Mañosa, S. (2020) Evolutionary history, genomic adaptation to toxic diet, and extinction of the Carolina Parakeet. Curr. Biol. 30: 108–114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hasbrouck, E. M. (1891) The Carolina Paroquet (Conurus carolinensis). Auk 8: 369–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hosseini, P. R., Dhondt, A. A. and Dobson, A. (2004) Seasonality and wildlife disease: how seasonal birth, aggregation and variation in immunity affect the dynamics of Mycoplasma gallisepticum in house finches. Proc. Biol. Sci. 271: 2569–2577.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hung, C. M., Shaner, P. J., Zink, R. M., Liu, W. C., Chu, T. C., Huang, W. S. and Li, S. H. (2014) Drastic population fluctuations explain the rapid extinction of the passenger pigeon. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 111: 10636–10641.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Juniper, T. and Parr, M. (1998) Parrots: A guide to parrots of the world. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Keogan, K., Daunt, F., Wanless, S., Phillips, R.A., Walling, C.A., Agnew, P., Ainley, D.G., Anker-Nilssen, T., Ballard, G., Barrett, R.T. and Barton, K.J. (2018) Global phenological insensitivity to shifting ocean temperatures among seabirds. Nat. Clim. Change 8: 313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kodikara, S., Demirhan, H. and Stone, L. (2018) Inferring about the extinction of a species using certain and uncertain sightings. J. Theor. Biol. 442: 98–109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marsden, S. J. and Royle, K. (2015) Abundance and abundance change in the world’s parrots. Ibis 157: 219–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKinley, D. (1960) The Carolina parakeet in pioneer Missouri. Wilson Bull. 72: 274–287.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1964) History of the Carolina Parakeet in its Southwestern Range. Wilson Bull. 76: 68–93.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1965) The Carolina Parakeet in the Upper Missouri and Mississippi river valleys. Auk 82: 215–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKinley, D. (1976) The Carolina Parakeet in Indiana. Indiana Audubon Q. 54: 97–107.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1977a) Records of the Carolina Parakeet in Ohio. Ohio J. Sci. 77:3.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1977b) The Carolina Parakeet in Georgia: a review of reports. Oriole 42: 21–25.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1978a) The Carolina Parakeet in the Virginias: a review. Raven 49: 3–10.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1978b) The Carolina Parakeet in Alabama, a History. EOS (Alabama Mus. Nat. Hist. ) 1: 7.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1978c) The Carolina Parakeet in Illinois: a recapitulation. Indiana Audubon Q. 56: 53–68.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1978d) The Carolina parakeet in the west: additional references. Nebraska Bird Rev. 46: 3–7.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1979a) A review of the Carolina Parakeet in Tennessee. Migrant 50: 1–6.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1979b) Historical review of the Carolina parakeet in the Carolinas. Brimleyana 1: 81–89.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1979c) History of the Carolina parakeet in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Maryland Birdlife 35: 3–10.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1979d) The Carolina Parakeet in Kentucky. Indiana Audubon Q. 57: 187–195.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1980) The balance of decimating factors and recruitment in extinction of the Carolina Parakeet. Part 1. Indiana Audubon Q. 58: 8–18.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1981) The Carolina Parakeet in Mississippi: A historical review. Mississippi Kite 11: 2–6.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. (1985) The Carolina Parakeet in New York and Ontario: A review and a footnote. Kingbird 167–172.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. and Hardy, J. W.. (1985) The Carolina Parakeet in Florida. Florida Ornithological Society.Google Scholar
McKinley, D. and James, D.. (1984) A Summary Account of the Carolina Parakeet in Arkansas. Arkansas Acad. Sci. Proc. 38: 64–67.Google Scholar
Olah, G., Butchart, S. H., Symes, A., Guzmán, I. M., Cunningham, R., Brightsmith, D. J. and Heinsohn, R. (2016) Ecological and socio-economic factors affecting extinction risk in parrots. Biodivers. Conserv. 25: 205–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pimm, S. L. and Askins, R. A. (1995) Forest losses predict bird extinctions in eastern North America. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92: 9343–9347.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Radchuk, V., Reed, T., Teplitsky, C., van de Pol, M., Charmantier, A., Hassall, C., Adamík, P., Adriaensen, F., Ahola, M.P., Arcese, P. and Avilés, J.M. (2019) Adaptive responses of animals to climate change are most likely insufficient. Nature Comm. 10: 1–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ridgway, R. (1916) The birds of North and Middle America, Vol. 50 #7. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Rothschild, B. M. and Panza, R. K. (2005) Epidemiologic assessment of trauma-independent skeletal pathology in non-passerine birds from museum collections. Avian Pathol. 34: 212–219.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snyder, N. F. (2004) The Carolina Parakeet: Glimpses of a vanished bird. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Snyder, N. F. and Russell, K. (2002) Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis). In: Poole, A. (ed.), Birds of North America online. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi: 10.2713/bna.667.Google Scholar
Snyder, N. F. R., McGowan, P., Gilardi, J. and Grajal, A. (2000) Parrots: status survey and conservation action plan 2000-2004. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN.Google Scholar
Solow, A., Smith, W., Burgman, M., Rout, T., Wintle, B. and Roberts, D. (2012) Uncertain Sightings and the Extinction of the Ivory‐Billed Woodpecker. Conserv. Biol. 26: 180–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Solow, A. R. and Beet, A. R. (2014) On uncertain sightings and inference about extinction. Conserv. Biol. 28: 1119–1123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stanton, J. C. (2014) Present-day risk assessment would have predicted the extinction of the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius). Biol. Conserv. 180: 11–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swenk, M. H. (1934) The interior Carolina paroquet as a Nebraska bird. Nebraska Bird Rev. 2: 55–59.Google Scholar
Urban, M. C. (2015) Accelerating extinction risk from climate change. Science 348: 571–573.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wright, T.F. (2005) The Carolina Parakeet: Glimpses of a vanished species. Auk 123: 291–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yamashita, C., and Valle, M. D. P. (1993) On the linkage between Anodorhynchus macaws and palm nuts, and the extinction of the Glaucous Macaw. Bull. Brit. Ornithol. Club 113: 53–59.Google Scholar